Two hours after landing his plane on Lake Shore Drive early Sunday, John Pedersen peered past rows of police cars, gaping drivers and news trucks, searching for his fiancee's red SUV while giving her directions.

"You can't miss it," he said into his cellphone.

The sight of an airplane parked on a strip of grass by Buckingham Fountain caused a spectacle Sunday. Police officers posed for photos, drivers slowed for a closer look, and joggers and bikers on the lakeshore path traded one-liners.

"Oh … this is where I left my airplane," one biker shouted to a companion.

Pedersen, of Lombard, had been flying his two-seat plane over downtown Chicago when a stabilizing part broke loose, causing the aircraft to shake violently.

At the time of the mayday call, about 6 a.m., he was flying about 1,900 feet above Millennium Park, he said.

The sun had not yet risen over Lake Michigan, but already Lindsay O'Brien was starting to set up a water station in Grant Park for a 20-mile run. Looking up, she saw Pedersen's plane flying south across the western portion of the park, then banking and flying above Lake Shore Drive.

"I was like, 'That's really low,'" she recalled. "And then he disappeared out of my sightline."

Pedersen, who said he has been flying for five years, had decided Lake Shore Drive was his best landing spot. If timed correctly, he figured, he could bring down the plane while traffic was stopped at a red light.